Author Topic: Keysight Scary Letter  (Read 86601 times)

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Offline metrologist

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #475 on: February 20, 2019, 03:42:20 pm »
Blacking out the serial number is a fail if one doesn't also black out the bar code version of it.

But it does suggest that the seller knew that unit wasn't supposed to be sold.

LoL, there were some smarties on the CB radio, they used to call each other on the phone and put their friends "on the band" to talk more stuff. It was great knowing you could decode the phone numbers from the tones, and then you could just call them up for clarification, cuz, ya know, you were only hittin me with 1S.  :box:
 

Offline Keysight DanielBogdanoff

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #476 on: February 20, 2019, 10:23:29 pm »
@Frasier, we don't usually schedule scrap dates for things, I have a number of HP test gear in my possession that was made in the building and has probably never left it. People definitely have their stashes of gear - at least they do at the Colorado Springs location.

I believe we do get internally charged for storage & cube space, but we generally don't think too much about it.
 

Offline usagi

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #477 on: February 21, 2019, 06:57:10 am »
if the initial letter had included an offer for a 1:1 functional new replacement it is likely this thread would have never got to this point.

Offline Fraser

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #478 on: February 21, 2019, 08:47:52 am »
@Daniel,

I know all about old equipment ‘stashes’ ...... whilst I was an instructor for 5 years I had a store room that was all mine and for only my use. I filled it with all manner of interesting and useful kit that had been declared ‘scrap’ but saved from the skip by me under my Training School equipment reallocation authority. I am an awful ‘squirrel’ when it comes to hoarding interesting equipment  ;D On several occasions I was approached by sections on the off chance I had saved a piece of equipment that they wish they had not scrapped. On every occasion I had saved their precious kit and they were overjoyed. I hoarded the ‘unusual’, and sadly that was what people accidentally disposed of as they were often new to a section and did not understand its use or high operational value...... as an old timer in the company, I did  ;D

When I left my employer, an important repository of unusual and very specialist equipment ceased to exist and the safety net for such equipment in the disposal process was lost. It was so common for sections to have a ‘clear out’ and the younger staff often did not know the history or operational use of some exotic equipment.

So I can totally understand some stashes of equipment by individuals within HPAK, but I was surprised that a large accumulation of equipment that was considered ‘beyond use’ was stored when such storage space has a real financial cost associated with it.

I always remember receiving a memo that stated that my section was being charged £XX per cubic metre of shelf storage we used in our holding stores. I was horrified at the total cost. That day we moved most of our stored equipment into a room that we ‘owned’ and that became our store room. It’s cost was actually lower than the cost of using the official storage as the overheads were lower. It was at that point that I realised some equipment was not actually worth the cost of its storage and would have to be disposed of. A lesson for me in financial accountability and the modern world in which I was working.

Even as a manager in my later career, I still had a stash of ‘useful equipment’ and the obligatory box of useful cables and small items stashed under my desk ! Once a ‘Packrat’,  always a ‘Packrat’  ;D

Interesting times  :)

Fraser

« Last Edit: February 21, 2019, 09:14:09 am by Fraser »
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Offline CJay

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #479 on: February 21, 2019, 12:48:18 pm »
I am that packrat...

Defunct machines, accessories, cables etc.

Amazing how many times I've been told optical media is dead and no longer required only to be asked a month or two later if they can borrow my USB DVD Writer or if I've got such and such a cable...
 

Offline gerryk

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #480 on: February 22, 2019, 11:44:29 am »
Any chance someone in posession of 'gear of interest; could hand it back. I keep revisiting the thread to see what, if any, reparation Keysight will make.
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #481 on: February 22, 2019, 05:39:41 pm »
I'm not sure I understand your question, Gerry. Keysight wants the "gear of interest" back. If you were to just send it to them to get it out of your hair, I don't think they'd refuse. However, it may still take some time to make arrangements.

Are you one of the affected?
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Offline philpem

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #482 on: February 23, 2019, 03:14:16 am »
In re Fraser's comment about blacking out serial numbers -- I've seen this taken to weird extremes.

Laser power meter, all apparently legit and above board. Seller pulled the serial number and safety labels completely off the unit.

Of course it was still happy to show the SN on bootup. Challenged them about it, "we do this to all the equipment we sell to protect our sources".

Now I can't help but wonder if they'd been told to destroy it and decided to stick it on ebay instead...
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #483 on: February 23, 2019, 03:17:38 am »
In re Fraser's comment about blacking out serial numbers -- I've seen this taken to weird extremes.

Laser power meter, all apparently legit and above board. Seller pulled the serial number and safety labels completely off the unit.

Of course it was still happy to show the SN on bootup. Challenged them about it, "we do this to all the equipment we sell to protect our sources".

Now I can't help but wonder if they'd been told to destroy it and decided to stick it on ebay instead...
I've seen the same happen. It can be very annoying, as my unit had a defect and was part of a recall but couldn't participate due to the sticker missing. Unfortunately that device didn't have menu serials.
 

Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #484 on: February 23, 2019, 10:45:19 am »
In re Fraser's comment about blacking out serial numbers -- I've seen this taken to weird extremes.

Laser power meter, all apparently legit and above board. Seller pulled the serial number and safety labels completely off the unit.

Of course it was still happy to show the SN on bootup. Challenged them about it, "we do this to all the equipment we sell to protect our sources".

Now I can't help but wonder if they'd been told to destroy it and decided to stick it on ebay instead...
.. or just making it harder to prove if it was stolen
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Offline Fraser

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #485 on: February 23, 2019, 01:26:03 pm »
Having spoken with a few companies regarding high value products, it is common for them to ask for your serial number. The reasons for this are varied but include, Ownership / stolen list cross referencing, warranty status, licensing checks and equipment version checks in order to provide appropriate support. Without a serial number the OEM will often decline to provide any support, including drivers and manuals.

In my experience with thermal cameras, all support calls need to include a serial number as a version check, stolen equipment check and to ensure the camera is registered to the current owner. If I see a serial number has been removed, I think “Stolen property”.

Fraser
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #486 on: February 23, 2019, 06:40:07 pm »
Having spoken with a few companies regarding high value products, it is common for them to ask for your serial number. The reasons for this are varied but include, Ownership / stolen list cross referencing, warranty status, licensing checks and equipment version checks in order to provide appropriate support. Without a serial number the OEM will often decline to provide any support, including drivers and manuals.

In my experience with thermal cameras, all support calls need to include a serial number as a version check, stolen equipment check and to ensure the camera is registered to the current owner. If I see a serial number has been removed, I think “Stolen property”.

Fraser
I've seen number removed by companies as the equipment is written off, so missing serials don't necessarily mean they're stolen goods.
 

Online Jwalling

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #487 on: June 19, 2019, 10:45:34 am »
Just for the record, I finally got a response from Mr. Harrington on 2/13/2019:

Quote
Please forgive me for my delayed response. First, allow me to give you some background on the issue. Keysight Technologies was in possession of equipment that was scheduled to be destroyed, however the contractor charged with destroying the equipment did not do so. Instead, the equipment was somehow diverted and ended up for sale on eBay by Outback Equipment. We have been contacting buyers of products identified by Keysight as having been scheduled for destruction from a list of transactions furnished by Outback for the purpose of identifying where the equipment ended up and whether some pieces are still available for sale.

In sum, we are asking buyers a) if they ordered the equipment listed on Exhibit A to the correspondence; b) if the items they received match those listed on Exhibit A; and c) if they are still in possession of the items listed on Exhibit A. Unfortunately, I do not have any more information on the equipment beyond what is included on Exhibit A, but I have made note of your response, specifically regarding the reimaging of the drives, and I will discuss this with our team to see if we need anything further. Again, I apologize for the late response to your emails. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions on this matter.

Ah, thanks, that finally explains the whole saga and why it's Keysight who's coping the financial hit for this.

So it's now been 6 months or so of this bullshit, and nothing from the lawyer. I sent an email a week or two ago to Harrington, letting him know that I was thinking about selling the scope. I received a read receipt for the email, but he didn't bother to take the time to respond.

Lawyers. [*spit*]

Has anyone affected actually sent any equipment in?
This is being handled very badly. Screw 'em. I'll sell it on Craigslist maybe. :-- I'll be sure not to get the buyers name.  :-DD
Jay

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Online Jwalling

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #488 on: June 19, 2019, 10:47:41 am »
I'd like to reaffirm that at least 90% of this isn't just "spin." This is the situation.

We honestly don't care too much about the used equipment market, especially the vintage and legacy products. I personally am glad it exists, but from a corporate standpoint it doesn't affect our business. There's not much upside and a lot of downside for Keysight in trying to affect that market.

If you ended up with that dream piece of vintage gear you've been searching for, you may or may not want to respond. The idea of a "clawback" is almost zero for that type of gear. And, it's highly unlikely for all of this equipment overall. I'm advocating internally to work on gear replacement strategies instead of buyback strategies, but legal is a funny world.

Hi Daniel,
Can you please see if there is any movement on this?
Thanks.
Jay

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Offline Stray Electron

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #489 on: June 19, 2019, 04:03:41 pm »
  For a company (Keysight) that was supposed to have been concerned about their reputation, they've PO'd a number of their past, present and potential customers with the way that this has been "handled".
 

Offline bson

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #490 on: June 19, 2019, 04:49:20 pm »
Clearly there is no urgency to protect their precious IP.
 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #491 on: June 19, 2019, 05:17:28 pm »
I thought sending a pack of lawyers after something was supposed to fix everything.  :box:
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #492 on: June 19, 2019, 05:35:02 pm »
 
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Offline pinkman

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #493 on: June 21, 2019, 05:22:08 am »
Keysight has never been an impressive company in any way.  Agilent *was* at one point, but that was long before it transitioned to Keysight name.  One simply should compare this cost reduced garbage line of DSO-X/MSO-X scopes to the alternatives. I don't understand how these weren't the end of this level of test equipment for them.  I suppose that brand loyalty is still strong to some extent...  Or people with experience somehow still don't know what else is out there. 

At work, mentoring new college hire EE's in the years after the DSO/MSO-X series were introduced, seeing an engineer's face light up the first day they used a nearly 10 year old tektronix DPO/MSO4000 series vs. an Agilent -X 4000 was amazing.  It only takes a few uses to realize the superiority.  NAND issues popped up on enough of the -X units in our lab that they were all traded in more than 2 years ago and replaced with tek MSO/MDO3000/4000 and every last Agilent diehard begrudgingly converted after becoming jealous.  The NAND issue alone was enough to burn the brand for all of our labs and we haven't looked back.  The tek units truly are amazing.  I hope this keeps up.
 

Offline Neganur

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #494 on: June 21, 2019, 04:30:45 pm »
 :bullshit:
 

Online tggzzz

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Online 2N3055

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #496 on: June 21, 2019, 05:01:16 pm »
LOL :-DD
 

Offline Gandalf_Sr

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #497 on: June 28, 2019, 09:54:39 am »
There was a fire.
This test gear was not used to service UFOs
There was no black helicopter over your house
Lawyers are good people

Got that?
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Online Jwalling

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #498 on: October 09, 2019, 11:01:19 am »
Good GRIEF!  |O
Are you F%@#$% kidding me?
Just came in the mail yesterday.
Jay

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Offline ataradov

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Re: Keysight Scary Letter
« Reply #499 on: October 09, 2019, 11:05:26 am »
Well, did anyone get anything from Keysight as a replacement anyway? Or was it all just a spin until they regroup and let it blow over?
Alex
 


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